Automatic welding machine



E. GRul-:NFELDT AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINEV Filed lay 1921 Sept. 23 1924.

alims,

`45 for an adjusting nut 16 Patented Sept. 23, 19274.

, UNITED sTATEs GRUENFELDT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND,OHIO,

.PATENT oFF ASKSIGNORIO THE HYDRAULIC STEEL A CORPORATION OF OHIO.,

AUTQMATIC WELDING MACHINE.

Application led I Iay 6,

'To ZZ wlw-m, t may concern.'

Be it. known that I, EMIL GRENEELD'E, a citizen of the'United Sta-tes,residing at Clcveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain ew and useful Improvement Welding Machines, of whichthe following is a full,clear,a nd exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying'drawings.

This invention relates to the welding of circumferential seams of'barrels or other j cylindrical objects. 2

The object of the invention is to obtain a uniform weld throughout theextent of such a seam regardless4 the cylindrical contour ofthe objector in the meeting edges thereof at the seam. j In the drawingformingapart of this specifieat-'ion,

Figure 1 is a side view of the machine partly broken away to showcertainof the parts in section.

Figure 2 is a central transverse vertical section.

The barrel 1 to be welded along a central circumferential ed between apair keyed therein a hollow threaded shaft 13A which receives the Yshaft9 of the chuck L and has arthrust bearing 14 interposed be- .twe'en itandthe chuck 4.- Thelbearing arm 7 carries an extension 15 forming abacking ed hollow shaft 13. By means of the adjusting nut 16 the chuck 4can be forced toward the chuck 3 to firmly clamp the barrel 1.

' The shaft l8 carried by the chuck 3 is connectedy through a slip joint17 and a flexible joint 18.With the driving shaft of a suitable drivingmechanism 19.

The floating frame 5 is supported for 1on- Agitudinal movement upon avertically movable roller bed 20. AThe Toller bed 20 is conin Automaticspindle 25 is forked andhasmount'ed there of irregularities inv seam 2is rotatably. support? of chucks 3 and 4. Thev chucks 3 and 4. arerotatably mounted in engaging the thread-4 1921. Serial No. 467,391.

nected tothe base 21 of the frame through opposite pairs of parallellinks 22. The bed 20 is yieldingly suppolted upon a coil spring 23seated on the base 21. 'A

Mounted in the'upper cross bar 24 of the frame is an adjustable spindle25 having a threaded upper end 26. engaged by an adjusting nut 27. Thevlower end 28 of the in a roller 29 which has a project-ing rib 30engaging the grooved seam 2.l Y

Adjacent the i adjustable seam engaging roller is mounted a welding head31, preferably of the automatic arc welding type, in which the electrode32 is fed to the work by feed rollers 33, as shown diagrammatically inFig. 2 ofthe drawing.

` In operation the barrel is inserted bet-Ween the chucks 3 and 4 withthe seam 2 in engagement with the roller 29 and the chuck 75 4adjusted-by means of the nut 16 to clamp the barrel in place. The roller29 may then be adjusted to force the barrel and its supporting frame f5downwardly againstthe action of thespring 23 until the desired upwardthrust against the roller 29-is effected. The driving mechanism 19 isthen put in operation to rotate the barrel. 1

In forming barrel .tubs such as 'shown herein to be joined togetheralong a central seam it has been found that such tubs are not uniformlyof true circular shape at their edges and furthermore such -v edges donot always lie exactly in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tub.It has been found in weldingA such seams that these irregularities causeimperfections in the welded joint, due to the -fact that. certainportions ofthe "se'am are not properly alined with the welding device,and due to variations lin the distance between the welding device andseam. By the vpresentinvention both the above mentioned diicultiesa'reavoided. As the' barrel -1 k rotates', presenting .successive portions'of the seam to the electrode 32, the rib ,100 30 of the roller 29 holdsthe seam'adjacent thev electrode in alinemen therewith moving the barrel1 and its suppo .ting frame 5 bodily on the roller bed 20 to maintainthe portion of the seam being welded in line with 1.05 the electrode 32.The spring 23 presses the top of the barrel against the roller 29 sothat the portion of the seam being welded is maintained at asubstantially uniform distance from the end ofthe electrode. v

What I claim -'is: t

1. In a Welding machine, a stationary welding device, a rotary supportfor an airti-y Ycle having a circumferential seam to ,be

welded, `means for rotating the article' to present successive 'portionsof the seam to the vveldmg device, said rotary support beingmounted forvertical and horizontal movement, and stationary means adjacent saidwelding. head to position said seam With respect to said Welding device.

.article vertically and horizontally to maintain the portion thereofbeing Welded in a predetermined spaced relation with respect to theWelding device.

3'. Ina Welding machine, avvelding device,

means for movably. supporting an article having a seam to be Welded,means for moving said support tofpresent successive portions of the seamto said Welding device, ,and means adjacent the Welding deviceandfengageable with said seam adapted to move -said article bodilyvertically or'horizont-ally to maintain the portion of the seam beingWelded in definite spaced relation with respect to the Welding device. f

4, In a barrel Welding machine, a Welding device, a pair of opposedrotary and slidablymounted chucks for engaging the heads of the barrel,means for rotating said barrel to present successivelportions of thecircumferential seamther'eof to said Welding device, and meansengageable with the seam adjacent said ,Welding device adapted to bodilyshift the barrel to maintain the portion of the seam being Welded inalinement with said Welding device.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aiiix my signature.

EMIL GRUENFELDT. i

